Despite a stumble, Sha'Carri makes the 100-meter final at world championships

TOKYO — Sha’Carri Richardson squeezed into the 100-meter final at track world championships Sunday, failing to get the top-two finish she needed in her semifinal to automatically qualify but earning one of the last two wild-card spots.

She stumbled between her fourth and fifth step out of the starting block and spent the rest of the race trying to catch the eventual winner and runner-up — Marie Josée Ta Lou-Smith and Shericka Jackson.

Richardson didn’t reel them in, then had to wait in the “hot seat” near the finish line for the final two heats to see if her time of 11 seconds flat would be one of the two fastest among the non-qualifiers.

She made it and reached the eight-woman final with a wild-card — the same way she qualified two years ago when she won the world title in Budapest. In the final that year, she ran out of Lane 9 and beat everyone.

The men’s semifinals featured less drama, with all the top contenders advancing — defending Olympic and world champ Noah Lyles, Kishane Thompson and Oblique Seville of Jamaica and Kenny Bednarek.

The best theatre there was the heat involving Thompson and Bednarek. With the American pushing hard to the line, Thompson turned to him with a look of “What are you doing?” and Bednarek stared right back. The race was declared a dead heat at 9.844 seconds each.

For Richardson, the task could be tougher this time than it was in Budapest in 2023. Then, she walked in with a 10.71 under her belt, this year, she hasn’t cracked 11 seconds.

Her 11.00 in the semifinal was .27 seconds slower than Melissa Jefferson-Wooden who posted the fastest time of the three races. Tina Clayton finished .17 seconds behind her.

Also making the women’s final were Olympic champion Julien Alfred and Jamaica’s five-time world champ, Shelly-Ann Fraser Pryce, who finished 1-2 in the second semifinal. Britain’s Dina-Asher Smith ran 11.02 to earn the other wild-card spot.